


nothing left on earth

by Archaeopteryx



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22272616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archaeopteryx/pseuds/Archaeopteryx
Summary: Claude tries to recruit Dedue after the battle in Enbarr.Dedue just wants to go home.
Relationships: Dedue Molinaro & Claude von Riegan, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Dedue Molinaro
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	nothing left on earth

"No," Dedue says, quiet as a closing door.

He stares through Claude, his red-rimmed eyes focused on something distant. His shoulders sag and his back bends as if his body is suddenly too heavy for his frame. Claude's never seen him slouch before.

Claude grins, uneasy, and spreads his hands. "Come on. You help me, I help you — it sounds like a good deal to me."

"No."

"Really? We could use a guy like you." Claude's layering on the charm as thick as he can, but — damn, he'd liked Dedue because the charisma play never worked on him, and it seems that hasn't changed.

"I have wasted enough time fighting Fódlan's wars," Dedue says. His pale eyes slice straight through Claude like a winter fog, the freezing kind of chill that cuts straight to your bones. "Do the right thing, Claude von Riegan. I will not fight for your favors. I am tired, and I am going home."

He turns. Claude leaps forward, a panic he can't name rising in his throat, and grabs Dedue's elbow. "Wait — !"

Dedue stops and looks down, and his expression glues Claude's heels to the bloodied cobblestone.

It's not cold. It's not angry. It's just sad. Dedue's eyes are bloodshot, his face streaked with tears, and his face isn't blank with steely stoicism but with a grief so deep Claude reels in a surge of vertigo.

"I am going home," Dedue says, soft and hoarse, "and there is nothing on Earth left that can stop me."

Claude swallows. His hand drops back to his side. "Okay," he says. "Gods of fortune go with you."

Dedue nods, a single jerk of his head, and walks away.

Claude lets him go.


End file.
